By Tony Lim
BRISBANE — On July 29, the Ipswich City Council banned the use of council facilities by the racist Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. The next day Brisbane Lord Mayor Jim Soorley said he fully supported Ipswich council's decision and that the Brisbane council would also deny use of its buildings to One Nation.
Ipswich Council said that its decision was made because of concerns about possible damage caused by "violent" demonstrations outside One Nation meetings, but Soorley says that he will ban One Nation because it is racist and "divisive".
"Like the Howard government's attempt to deport US black activist Lorenzo Ervin, these decisions are serious attacks on freedom of political expression and assembly. They set very bad precedents", Peter Boyle, a spokesperson for the Democratic Socialist Party, told Green Left Weekly.
"Racism can only be defeated politically. This anti-democratic move does not advance the anti-racist movement, which we strongly support and are actively building. Restricting the access to council facilities for any political group is political censorship. Censorship merely drives racist ideas underground and makes them harder to defeat.
"Some anti-racist activists are misguidedly campaigning for the ACT government and some other local councils to adopt similar policies. They should realise that political censorship is more likely to be turned against anti-racists and the left."
Soorley tried to ban the distribution of Green Left Weekly in Brisbane's Queen Street Mall in 1993, Boyle added, and ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell has said that if she banned One Nation from using ACT government-owned buildings, she would have to apply the same ban to the DSP, which "could also be labelled an extremist organisation in the minds of many Canberrans".
Anti-racist activists who are opposed to political censorship intend to put their case to local councils and other government bodies considering bans on access to public facilities by any political party. People interested in supporting this campaign should contact Peter Boyle on (02) 9690 1230 or by fax on (02) 9690 1381.